NASHVILE, Tenn. – In Saturday’s first full scrimmage for the Tennessee State University football team the offense made a few plays but the defense held the spotlight.

“It was a defensively dominated scrimmage,” head coach Rod Reed said. “I think there were nine or 10 punts today which tells me the defense did a good job of getting off the field.”

Freshman defensive lineman Latrelle Lee and junior linebacker Vantavious Williams had great days. Lee had a handful of tackles and added a few sacks. Williams recovered a fumble and ran it all the way back for a touchdown as well as made his presence felt on a number of passing plays.

“I thought Lee did some good things. He sacked the quarterback a couple of times and made some good tackles. Van Williams was playing fast and seemed to be in on every tackle.”

Sophomore wide receiver Chris Sanders-McCollum grabbed a couple of long passes, including one in the back corner of the end zone for a touchdown from 25 yards out. Redshirt-sophomore wide receiver Isaiah Freeman also had a handful of catches and created separation from defenders with his route running.

TSU worked on the mental aspect of the game, as well, on Saturday as they had an officiating team from the OVC come in and call the scrimmage just as they would a normal game.

“Jim Jackson, the OVC director of officials, does a great job of getting guys out and schooling us on what we need to do. I had them call it tight today and we ended up with 11 penalties. We were one of the worst penalized teams in the league last season so we will definitely need to improve before this season starts.”

The Tigers will be off tomorrow. Practice will resume Monday at 9:15 a.m.